Concerned Neighbors

by Victor LopezNewsWest 9

ODESSA - The teens were arrested several blocks away from where the robberies actually occurred. Aside from being on the same side of town, one thing these two neighborhoods have in common is that their residents look out for one another.

It was just another day for beth snead. But things were about to change.

"I had been out in my back yard. I came in my house to wash my hands, my dog started barking. I stepped to the door, and there was a young man coming over my fence," Snead said.

She had no idea what was going on, but after hearing noises coming from around her trash dumpster, plus the guy going over her fence, "I thought, that's not right, I better call the police," Snead said.

It was that kind of thinking that alerted police to a robbery in progress, several blocks away.

According to Cpl. Sherrie Carruth of the Odessa Police Department, "A witness observed 3 subjects enter a house and exit the house with property."

A quick call to police, led to 3 arrests.

"The fact that we were able to detain these individuals is the fact that we had a neighbor watching out for his neighborhood, and saw these individuals, and called us," Carruth said.

Investigators questioned Beth Snead about what she saw. She told them about the noise she heard in the alley. "They took off running, and they found a young man hiding in the dumpster."

Even up till the end, she was ready to make that call, "I was dialing the police when I saw them out front, so I didn't continue my call," Snead said.

With three people in custody, Sherrie Carruth offers a very special note of thanks, "The Odessa Police Dept would like to thank people for watching out for one another, for calling us when they spot suspicious activity and for letting us know, and giving us the information we need, being the extra eyes and ears for us."

Carruth also said, in the past couple of weeks, O.P.D. has made several arrests, thanks to calls from residents, keeping an eye on their neighbors. Sadly, all those arrests have been juveniles.